


you oughta know by now

by golden_goose



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 14:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10281212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/golden_goose/pseuds/golden_goose
Summary: mandy and dennis have a conversation





	

“I think it's time you get your own place,” says Mandy one night. Brian Jr has finally fallen asleep and the two of them are sitting at the wooden table in her tiny little kitchen.

Dennis doesn't say anything. He's staring over at Brian Jr’s highchair where there are a few Cheerios from earlier. He picks one of them up, then crushes it in his fist.

_It's not like he hadn't been expecting this._

The two of them agree to give it their best shot when Dennis moves to North Dakota. After all, Dennis has nowhere else to live and Mandy has a home with a perfectly good sofa.

Dennis tries, he really does. He gets a job at the mall even though it's beneath him. He takes his son to the park and makes the kid lunches with peeled apple slices and peanut butter sandwiches and sits with Brian Jr to watch whatever stupid crap is on television.

He hates the messes that his son makes, so he leaves them for Mandy to clean up until she confronts him about it. He pretends to be asleep when Brian Jr starts crying in the middle of the night and lets Mandy deal with the kid. The days blend together and one night when he can't stand the thought of going home to a tense dinner with Mandy, he goes out with two of his co-workers to a bar. Dennis doesn't even come home that late (it's only 1 am when she catches him sneaking through the front door) but Mandy gives him a disapproving look and retreats to her bedroom without a word. He can hear the lock click behind her.

That was a week ago. Two days ago, when he walked in on Mandy and her best friend in the kitchen they went quiet, staring at him.

_He knew this was coming._

Dennis is furious and disappointed, but he tries not to let it show. His jaw tightens a little and he stares more intently at the dirty table.

“Ok,” he says.

**Author's Note:**

> s/o to sfu and billy joel for the inspiration


End file.
